This Week in Weird, Jan. 22

Men hurt in fight over beer, casino patron urinates on machine and more in this week's edition.

Police say man spit on casino officer, urinated on machine

NORWICH, Conn. - An intoxicated Norwich man was arrested when police said he became belligerent after being thrown out of a nightclub at MGM Grand at Foxwoods.

Police said Keith D. Emmons, 25, was forced to leave the Shrine nightclub and began yelling and swearing in the busy concourse area.

After spitting on a security officer, police said Emmons left the casino and was observed urinating on a soda machine in the parking garage.

Mashantucket Tribal police detained Emmons, who was charged by state police at 1:25 a.m. with breach of peace. Emmons is scheduled to appear Feb. 2 in New London Superior Court.

Three men injured in fight over beer

QUINCY, Mass. - Two men were slashed with a knife and another was cut by broken glass in an argument over beer, police said.

Daniel Bartolo Lopez, 21, of Quincy, was arrested and charged with two counts each of assault and battery and mayhem.

Lopez and the two men he is alleged to have slashed with a knife all live in the same apartment, Police Capt. John Dougan said.

He said they argued over beer at the apartment about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. One of the men Lopez allegedly slashed received a deep wound above his ear. The other was cut on the left side of his face, Dougan said. They were taken to Boston Medical Center, and their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Lopez fell on broken glass on the floor, and he was treated at Quincy Medical Center for cuts on his back, Dougan said.

The route that Healy was on started about 6 a.m. and finished around 10 a.m. in near northwest Canton. Healy rode on the back of a garbage truck and picked up trash along with two other city employees.

Healy said he’s talked with sanitation department employees in the past about getting a firsthand view of collecting garbage. More recently, Healy said two sanitation department employees extended an invitation to work on a trash route.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Healy said. “I was able to hang in there; it’s certainly a physical job, and I think the environment is probably worse than the job — the smell and some of the things that you handle.”

Healy also has spent time in other departments, including riding along with police and participating in firefighter training. He also plans to spend time with a snowplow truck driver.

Adam Herman, the mayor’s communications director, said that Healy was not seeking publicity. Herman noted that the mayor’s office did not contact the media or issue a press release about the time Healy spent picking up garbage.

Laid-off firefighter saves woman from fire

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. - A laid-off Canandaigua firefighter was among several people who helped rescue a woman from a house fire about 6 p.m. Monday night.

Jason Harris joined an off-duty Rochester firefighter and two Canandaigua Fire Department volunteers to help save the woman just moments before help arrived.

"I heard it on the scanner and knew it was in our neighborhood," said Harris, 30. "I saw people outside and could see through the second-floor window that the fire was upstairs."

Harris was one of three firefighters who were laid off on Dec. 31 when their positions were eliminated by the Canandaigua City Council.

He said he then ran to the house, told one resident to leave and helped bring the other woman, who was immobile, outside to safety.

Harris and the others also retrieved a basket full of kittens who also live in the house.

Firefighters then quickly extinguished the blaze.

No one was hurt, but the home sustained significant damage to the upstairs and part of the downstairs areas, said Canandaigua Fire Department Chief Matt Snyder.